All In: Expanding Access through Nationally Competitive Awards

Notes

145 Notes Chapter Three: Enough about Me, What Do You Think about Me? 1. Throughout this essay the term panelist describes a member of a Truman regional review Panel. The regional review Panels meet at locations throughout the country to interview finalists and select Truman scholars. Reader describes a member of the Truman finalist selection Committee. The finalist selection Committee meets prior to the regional review Panels and selects finalists based on the written application. 2. see “Practice Questions for Truman Interviews,” Truman foundation website, http://truman.gov//for-faculty-reps/from-the-foundation/ practice-questions-for-truman-interviews. 3. see “2012–2013 Bulletin of Information,” Truman foundation website, http://truman.gov//for-faculty-reps/2013-competition/2013-bulletin-of -information. 4. A question we often receive is whether this portion of the day counts as part of the interview process. This session is so short and the interactions so perfunctory that it would be nearly impossible for a finalist to make a lasting impression—either positive or negative. finalists should not worry about this portion of the day. If they meet the panelists, fine. If not, they will have ample time during the interview. 5. Again, this is not fatal. one recent Truman scholar closed his interview with a screed against the Truman process on his campus. According to him, several wonderful Truman candidates were turned away because his campus relied too heavily on GPAs. several panelists were upset that he used this forum to air his grievances, but they voted to select him anyway. 6. see “regional review Panels,” Truman foundation website, http:// www.truman.gov/for-candidates/regional-review-panels. Chapter Five: Preparing Students to Apply for Competitive Law Schools 1. There are no good statistics regarding lawyer satisfaction. law schools do not, in general, bother to survey their graduates in this regard. I base my comment on the following: (1) personal experiences with law school classmates, 146 • Notes clients’ parents (often lawyers), and clients (who years after I helped them go to law school, report back to me regarding how they are faring); (2) frequent discussions of this matter with the career services directors at various law schools, nearly all of whom report that a distressingly large percentage of graduates seem somewhat or very unhappy in their professional lives; (3) the substantial literature that has developed; early examples include Deborah l. Arron, Running from the Law: Why Good Lawyers Are Getting Out of the Profession (Berkeley, CA: Ten speed Press, 1991); Deborah l. Arron, What Can You Do with a Law Degree? A Lawyer’s Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside, and Around the Law (seattle: niche Press, 1992); and hindi Greenberg, The Lawyer’s Career Change Hand­ book: More Than 300 Things You Can Do with a Law Degree (new york: Avon Books, 1998); and (4) the cottage industry devoted to helping lawyers bear the stress and dissatisfaction they feel. This field too has its consultants and substantial literature. Early examples include Walt Bachman, Law v. Life: What Lawyers Are Afraid to Say about the Legal Profession (rhinebeck, ny: four Directions Press, 1995); Julie M. Tamminen, Living with the Law: Strategies to Avoid Burn­ out and Create Balance (Chicago: ABA section of law Practice Management, 1997); and richard W. Moll, The Lure of the Law: Why People Become Lawyers and What the Profession Does to Them (new york: Penguin Books, 1990). 2. In my book How to Get into the Top MBA Programs, 6th ed. (new york: Prentice hall, 2012), I note the views of the admissions directors of leading business schools on different types of applicants. In a chart, I catalog those views from which a typical lawyer applicant is likely to suffer: (1) lacks quantitative abilities, (2) unable to work with others, (3) unlikely to adopt business perspective , (4) arrogant, (5) whiner, and (6) running away from law, not toward business . MBA programs do accept some—but not many—lawyers but perform a rigorous analysis to make sure that the ones they accept do not suffer from these disabilities. 3. susan Dalessandro, lisa stilwell, Jennifer lawlor, and lynda reese, “lsAT Performance with regional, Gender, and racial/Ethnic Breakdowns: 2003–2004 through 2009–2010 Testing years,” LSAT Technical Report Series 10, no. 3, (2010): 19. 4. Although most admissions directors know that the best estimate of applicants ’ abilities, as measured by an exam such as the lsAT, is the average of their scores rather than one or the other, they may be swayed from...